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>DROP ROLE</H1
><DIV
CLASS="REFNAMEDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN71043"
></A
><H2
>Name</H2
>DROP ROLE&nbsp;--&nbsp;remove a database role</DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSYNOPSISDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN71048"
></A
><H2
>Synopsis</H2
><PRE
CLASS="SYNOPSIS"
>DROP ROLE [ IF EXISTS ] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> [, ...]</PRE
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71051"
></A
><H2
>Description</H2
><P
>   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>DROP ROLE</TT
> removes the specified role(s).
   To drop a superuser role, you must be a superuser yourself;
   to drop non-superuser roles, you must have <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEROLE</TT
>
   privilege.
  </P
><P
>   A role cannot be removed if it is still referenced in any database
   of the cluster; an error will be raised if so.  Before dropping the role,
   you must drop all the objects it owns (or reassign their ownership)
   and revoke any privileges the role has been granted. The <A
HREF="sql-reassign-owned.html"
>REASSIGN OWNED</A
>
   and <A
HREF="sql-drop-owned.html"
>DROP OWNED</A
>
   commands can be useful for this purpose.
  </P
><P
>   However, it is not necessary to remove role memberships involving
   the role; <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>DROP ROLE</TT
> automatically revokes any memberships
   of the target role in other roles, and of other roles in the target role.
   The other roles are not dropped nor otherwise affected.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71061"
></A
><H2
>Parameters</H2
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>IF EXISTS</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>      Do not throw an error if the role does not exist. A notice is issued
      in this case.
     </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>      The name of the role to remove.
     </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71074"
></A
><H2
>Notes</H2
><P
>   <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> includes a program <A
HREF="app-dropuser.html"
><SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>dropuser</SPAN
></A
> that has the
   same functionality as this command (in fact, it calls this command)
   but can be run from the command shell.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71079"
></A
><H2
>Examples</H2
><P
>   To drop a role:
</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>DROP ROLE jonathan;</PRE
><P></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71083"
></A
><H2
>Compatibility</H2
><P
>   The SQL standard defines <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>DROP ROLE</TT
>, but it allows
   only one role to be dropped at a time, and it specifies different
   privilege requirements than <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> uses.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN71088"
></A
><H2
>See Also</H2
><A
HREF="sql-createrole.html"
>CREATE ROLE</A
>, <A
HREF="sql-alterrole.html"
>ALTER ROLE</A
>, <A
HREF="sql-set-role.html"
>SET ROLE</A
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